Contact

Biography

Professor White re-joined the School of Law at Nottingham in 2009 as Chair in Public International Law. Prior to that he held the Chair of International Law at the University of Sheffield from 2005-2009, and the Chair in International Organisations at the University of Nottingham from 2000-2005. He has held an academic post in Law since 1987, and gained his doctorate from Nottingham in 1988. He gained a First Class BA (Hons) in Jurisprudence from Oxford in 1982. He has served as Head of the School of Law at Nottingham and Dean of the Faculty of Law at Sheffield. He is currently Head of the School of Law at the University of Nottingham and Co-Director of the Nottingham International Law and Security Centre (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/nilsc/index.aspx) with Professor Mary Footer. He was a member of the REF 2014 sub-panel for Law.

Expertise Summary

Professor Nigel White's expertise lies specifically in the fields of United Nations Law, Collective Security Law, Peacekeeping Law, and Post-Conflict Law, but more broadly covers international legal aspects of international organisations, counter-terrorism, access to justice, use of force, arms control, responsibility, sanctions and dispute settlement.

Professor White has undertaken a number funded research projects including on: the regulation of private military and security contractors (PRIVWAR - EU-FP7); democratic accountability and the deployment of troops (Nuffield); human rights and post-conflict situations UK FCO); the role of national courts in international law (COST); counter-terrorism and the rule of law (American Bar Association and World Justice Project); and the role of private security actors in extractive industries (Netherlands - NWO). In recent years he has given written and oral evidence to the UK House of Commons Constitutional Affairs Committee (on war powers), the Foreign Affairs Committee (on the legal consequences of Scottish independence, and on the regulation of private military contractors), the All Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Terrorism (on international legal responses to terrorism), and has made a written submission to the Iraq Inquiry (on the legality of the UK's use of force in 2003). Amongst other editorial responsibilities Professor White is co-editor of the Journal of Conflict and Security Law published by Oxford University Press.

Professor White provides Ph.D supervision in Public International Law, especially United Nations Law, Security and International Law, Peacekeeping and International Law, Sanctions and Embargoes, and aspects of Military Law. He has supervised over 35 Ph.D students to completion and has examined a similar number of theses around the UK, Europe, Australia, Malaysia, and New Zealand.

Teaching Summary

Public International Law, United Nations Law, Post-Conflict Law, Access to Justice in International Law

Research Summary

General Public International Law (especially issues of actors, personality, lawmaking, sources, responsibility, accountability, enforcement and the nature of international law); The Law of… read more

Recent Publications

DAVIES-BRIGHT LYDIA and WHITE NIGEL D., 2016. Case Concerning Questions of Interpretation and Application of the 1971 Montreal Convention Arising from the Aerial Incident at Lockerbie. In: RYNGAERT C., DEKKER I.F. and WESSEL R.A., eds., Judicial Decisions of the Law of International Organizations Oxford University Press. 117-126

WHITE NIGEL.D, 2016. Security Agendas and International Law: The Case of New Technologies. In: FOOTER M.E., SCHMIDT J., WHITE N.D. and DAVIES-BRIGHT L., eds., Security and International Law Bloomsbury/Hart. 3-24

Seiberth, Corrina: Non-binding Norms and the Regulation of Private Military and Security Companies during Armed Conflict: The Contribution of Soft Law and Codes of Conduct to the Legal Framework of Private Military and Security Companies

Shucksmith, Christy: An analysis of the legal and practical relationship between United Nations Peace Operations and the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Democratic Republic of Congo. How does the human security concept impact upon UN and ICRC missions? (co-supervised with Sandesh Sivakumaran)

Current Research

General Public International Law (especially issues of actors, personality, lawmaking, sources, responsibility, accountability, enforcement and the nature of international law); The Law of International Organisations (particularly UN Law, peacekeeping law, post-conflict rebuilding, sanctions, responsibility and accountability); Collective Security Law (including regional security law and the privatization of security); Counter-Terrorism and International Law (including human rights law); Aspects of Military Law; and Access to Justice in International Law.

Past Research

Professor White's first book was published in 1990, The United Nations and the Maintenance of International Peace and Security (Manchester University Press). In addition to publishing over seventy articles and essays he is a co-author and author of eleven books. He is sole author of Keeping the Peace (Manchester University Press, 2nd edn 1997), The UN System: Toward International Justice (Lynne Rienner, 2002), The Law of International Organisations (Manchester University Press, 3rd edn forthcoming 2016), Democracy Goes to War: British Military Deployments under International Law (Oxford University Press 2009), Advanced Introduction to Conflict and Security Law (Elgar, 2014) and The Cuban Embargo Under International Law: El Bloqueo (Routledge, 2015). He has recently co-authored Collective Security: Law Theory and Practice (Cambridge University Press, 2013) with Nicholas Tsagourias. He has edited and co-edited a number of books including most recently Security and International Law (Hart, 2016), a collaborative work based in the recently founded Nottingham International Law and Security Centre (NILSC), of which he is co-director. He is co-editor of the Journal of Conflict and Security Law published by Oxford University Press and in its 21st year.

DAVIES-BRIGHT LYDIA and WHITE NIGEL D., 2016. Case Concerning Questions of Interpretation and Application of the 1971 Montreal Convention Arising from the Aerial Incident at Lockerbie. In: RYNGAERT C., DEKKER I.F. and WESSEL R.A., eds., Judicial Decisions of the Law of International Organizations Oxford University Press. 117-126

WHITE NIGEL.D, 2016. Security Agendas and International Law: The Case of New Technologies. In: FOOTER M.E., SCHMIDT J., WHITE N.D. and DAVIES-BRIGHT L., eds., Security and International Law Bloomsbury/Hart. 3-24

WHITE NIGEL D., 2015. The Relationship Between the UN Security Council and General Assembly in Matters of International Peace and Security. In: WELLER MARC, ed., The Oxford Handbook of the Use of Force in International Law Oxford University Press. 293-313

MYJER ERIC P.J. and WHITE NIGEL D., 2015. Peace Operations Conducted by Regional Organizations and Arrangements. In: GILL T.D. and FLECK D., eds., The Handbook of the International Law of Military Operations Oxford University Press. 185-209

WHITE, NIGEL D., 2014. The use of weapons in peace operations. In: CASEY-MASLEN, S., ed., Weapons under international human rights law Cambridge University Press. 197-239

WHITE, NIGEL D., 2014. Security Council Mandates and the Use of Lethal Force by Peacekeepers: What Place for the Laws of War?. In: HARVEY, C, SUMMERS, J and WHITE, NIGEL D., eds., Contemporary Challenges to the Laws of War: Essays in Honour of Peter Rowe Cambridge University Press. 95-116

HARVEY, CAROLINE, SUMMERS, JAMES and WHITE, NIGEL D., eds., 2014. Contemporary Challenges to the Laws of War: Essyas in Honour of Peter Rowe Cambridge University Press.

WHITE N.D., 2012. Regulatory Initiatives at the International Level. In: BAKKER C., AND SOSSAI M., ed., Multi-Level Regulation of Private Military and Security Contractors: The Interplay Between European, International and Domestic Norms Hart. 11-30

WHITE N.D., 2012. The United Nations and Counter-Terrorism: Multilateral and Executive Law-Making. In: SALINAS DE FRIAS A.M. SAMUEL K.L.H. AND WHITE N.D., ed., Counter-Terrorism: International Law and Practice Oxford University Press.

WHITE, N.D., 2011. Layers of autonomy in the UN system. In: COLLINS R. and WHITE, N.D., eds., International organizations and the idea of autonomy: institutional independence in the international legal order Routledge. 298-315

COLLINS R., AND WHITE N.D., ed., 2011. International Organizations and the Idea of Autonomy: Institutional Independence in the International Legal Order Routledge.

WHITE N.D., 2011. The Security Council, the Security Imperative and International Law. In: HAPPOLD M., ed., International Law in a Multipolar World Routledge. 4-22

WHITE N.D., 2011. Libya and Lessons from Iraq: International Law and the Use of Force by the United Kingdom Netherlands Yearbook of International Law.

WHITE N.D. AND COLLINS R., 2010. Moving Beyond the Autonomy-Accountability Dichotomy: Reflections on Institutional Independence in the International Legal Order International Organizations Law Review. 7, 1-8

FRENCH D., SAUL M. and WHITE N.D., eds., 2010. International Law and Dispute Settlement: New Problems and Techniques Hart.

WHITE N.D. and SAUL M., 2010. Legal Means of Dispute Settlement in the Field of Collective Security: The Quasi-Jusdicial Powers of the Security Council. In: FRENCH D., SAUL M. and WHITE N.D., eds., International Law and Dispute Settlement: New Problems and Techniques Hart. 191-224

WHITE N.D., 2009. The Road to Kandahar: The International Legal Basis of Military Operations in Afghanistan. In: KAIKOBAD K.H. and BOHLANDER M., eds., International Law and Power: Perspectives on Legal Order and Justice Martinus Nijhoff. 485-512

TRYBUS, M. and WHITE N.D., eds., 2007. European Security Law Oxford University Press.

WHITE, N.D., 2007. Hierarchy in Organizations: Regional Bodies and the United Nations. In: TSAGOURIAS, N., ed., Transnational Constitutionalism: International and European Perspectives Cambridge University Press. 135-139

WHITE, N.D., 2007. The Applicability of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to the UN Security Council. In: BADERIN, M. and MCCORQUODALE, R., eds., Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Action Oxford University Press. 89-107

WHITE, N.D., 2006. The Ties that Bind: The EU, the UN and International Law Netherlands Yearbook of International Law. 37, 57-107

CRYER,R. and WHITE,N.D., 2002. The Security Council and the International Criminal Court: Who's Feeling Threatened? International Peacekeeping. 8, 141-168

WHITE, N.D., 2002. The United Kingdom: Increasing Commitment Requires Greater Parliamentary Involvement. In: Democratic Accountability and the Use of Military Force in International Law Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 300-322

WHITE, N.D., 2002. On the Brink of Lawlessness: The State of Collective Security Law Indiana International and Comparative Law Review. 13, 1-15

WHITE, N.D., 1997. Keeping the Peace: The United Nations and the Maintenance of International Peace and Security (Melland Schill Studies in International Law Series) Second. Manchester University Press, Manchester, UK.

WHITE, N.D., 1993. Keeping the peace : The United Nations and the Maintenance of International Peace and Security (Melland Schill Monographs in International Law Series) Manchester University Press, Manchester, UK.